Deck Profile: Jeff Jones’ Herald/Ruin Deck

June 19th, 2010

Herald of Perfection made a big splash the YCS in Washington, D.C. last month, making it to the Top 8 in that event. This new Ritual Monster from The Shining Darkness allows you to send Fairy-Type monsters from your hand to the Graveyard in order to negate the opponent’s card effects.

A lot of Duelists are playing their own Decks with Herald in today’s competition, including 2-time SHONEN JUMP Champion Jeff Jones. Here’s what his Deck looks like:

Monsters: 24

3 Herald of Perfection

1 Ruin, Queen of Oblivion

3 Archlord Kristya

2 Honest

1 Freya, Spirit of Victory

3 Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands

3 Sonic Bird

1 Senju of the Thousand Hands

1 Gyakutenno Megami

3 Happy Lover

3 Mokey Mokey

Spells; 12

3 Preparation of Rites

3 Dark Factory of Mass Production

2 Pot of Avarice

2 Book of Moon

1 Heavy Storm

1 Advanced Ritual Art

Traps: 6

1 Solemn Judgment

1 Mirror Force

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

2 Royal Decree

Like some Decks we saw in D.C., Jones is running HappyLover and Mokey Mokey with Dark Factory of Mass Production and Advanced RitualArt, allowing him to Special Summon Herald of Perfection using Fairies from his Deck. By sending those Fairies to the Graveyard with Advanced Ritual Art, Jones can get them to his hand with Dark Factory, discarding them to negate opposing effects with Herald’s ability. Sending two Level 2 Happy Lovers and 2 Level 1 MokeyMokeys to the Graveyard also places 4 Fairies in the Graveyard, allowing Jones to Special Summon Archlord Kristya.

Jones has made a number of innovative additions to the strategy. Along with 3 Preparationof Rites to search out Herald of Perfection from his Deck, he also runs 3 Manju of the Ten-Thousand Hands and a Senju of the Thousand Hands. That’s a lot of Ritual Monster searching, so Jones leverages it into a second Ritual Monster: Ruin,Queen of Oblivion. Ruin is a Level 8, so Jones can play Advanced Ritual Art to send 3 Happy Lover and 2 Mokey Mokey straight to his Graveyard. He can activate Potof Avarice as an immediate follow-up. This 2-card combo lets Jones Ritual Summon a 2300 ATK monster, then refill his hand by drawing 2 cards.

He also plays Gyakutenno Megami, a Level 6 Fairy-Type Normal Monster. Megami can be sent to the Graveyard on its own with Advanced Ritual Art for Herald of Perfection: she can also be sent alongside a single Happy Lover so Jones can unleash Ruin. That means that he can activate Advanced Ritual Art, Summon Herald ofPerfection, and still have enough Normal Monsters left in his Deck to bring Ruin to the field. Jones packs a full 3 Preparation of Rites to make that happen.

A Deck built around Herald of Perfection has plenty stall power and control, but attack power is difficult. So Ruin’s high ATK and ability to attack twice can quickly mean victory, especially when she’s combined with Honest. Since she can attack twice if her first attack destroyed a monster, Honest lets her borrow the attack power of whatever she goes up against, inflict 2300 damage, and then make a second attack for even more damage.

While Ruin beefs up the Deck’s aggression, Freya, Spirit of Victory boosts its defensive powers. When Herald of Perfection is in Defense Position, its 2800 DEF keeps it safe from almost anything except top-end monsters like XX-Saber Gottoms, Red Dragon Archfiend, or a boosted Colossal Fighter. But with Freya on the field, Herald’s DEF jumps to 3200, so it’s really unlikely that most popular Synchro Monsters would be able to destroy it. And since Freya can’t be attacked while you control another Fairy, Herald’s presence on the field keeps Freya safe, too.

This Deck will probably exceed the expectations of Jones’ opponents – a dangerous thing in a matchup where one false step can result in a controlling lockdown or a sudden, explosive win.